The management's decisions to stand pat over the past 11-or-so months has shown that the team tends to believe in the concept that prospect development plus a free agent signing or two = the way to go while "rebuilding on the fly," and Ken Holland basically confirmed that strategy while speaking to the Free Press's Jeff Seidel, who suggests that the Wings' playoff run has made him a "believer" in the Wings' organizational philosophy:

[W]e learned that the Wings have a ton of young talent. And now that young talent has something that is even better – playoff experience.

"I think the most important thing is they are pros, not potential,” Holland said.

Next year will be fascinating. The Wings will get a full season of Danny DeKeyser. And they should get several injured players back.

“Next year, we hope to have Darren Helm back,” Holland said. “We hope to have a healthy Todd Bertuzzi. We hope to have a healthy Mikael Samuelsson. You can look forward to September 2013, and think we are going to have a real good competition” at training camp.

This is a new look for the Wings. This team is not as dominant as in the past, but it is homegrown, and it’s the culmination of a plan that started back in 2005.

Well my fears are coming true, this may not be the best UFA group ever but there are some gems, which could help the Wings obviously the biggest piece is Clarkson but also guys like Ryder, Horton at a good pricetag would make sense.

Also at least one 1 spot has to be open for a big enforcer, Wings are going to face Orr, MacLaren, Thornton, Lucic, Chara, Clowe and Prust so I think a guy like Scott is a must-sign addition.

At least make room for the young guys and get rid off Bertuzzi, Samuelson, Filps, White .

So this quote has me worried a bit, the Wings are one of the richest teams in the league why not use the money to their advantage?

The Offseason of truth ...

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blank cheque for The Captain or Jim Star Nil please..

<< Win it for Mr. Hockey ! f*** this league THANK YOU BABS FOR 10 MARVELLOUS YEARS

Why Scott? We could sign Bickell and he could not only be a tough guy but also play a lil hockey while he is at it.

Bickell does not put as much fear into the opponents as Scott does. That said Horton, Scott and Clarkson would improve the Wings in term of toughness . I dont want Bickell, because he WAS one of the reasons whz this team lost against the Hawks...

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The Offseason of truth ...

Welcome to hockeytown Jonas aka Lundquist 2 Gustavsson!

blank cheque for The Captain or Jim Star Nil please..

<< Win it for Mr. Hockey ! f*** this league THANK YOU BABS FOR 10 MARVELLOUS YEARS

Bickell does not put as much fear into the opponents as Scott does. That said Horton, Scott and Clarkson would improve the Wings in term of toughness . I dont want Bickell, because he WAS one of the reasons whz this team lost against the Hawks...Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2

We didn't lose because we weren't tough enough. So adding a tough guy that can't forecheck, play defense, or score isn't the answer. We don't need another fighter as a healthy scratch in the playoffs, how about sign someone who will contribute. You don't want him because he played so well that he was a major reason why our team lost is completely irrational.

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I highly doubt we stand pat. We simply have too many pieces to stand pat, and way too many players knocking on the door. Holland has already stated that he knows players are trying to push others for their jobs, and what it comes down to is a numbers game. That doesn't mean we're going to pick up new players, but we're certainly going to be active and moving pieces. With that being said, I see Holland going for the cheaper contracts on the rookies the franchise has the trust in. If anything this season was a wake-up call for Holland that his rookies need to be alongside his veterans so they can get this experience in before we don't have that many veterans. We were already rookie heavy this season, and we couldn't afford to add more inexperience to the line-up. Not to mention, we didn't even have Helmer with us for a full season. I don't think he goes absolutely nuts during free agency, but I think we'll continue to see a fresher, younger, faster Red Wings team.

In the end, I don't think they're going to go after another D man, even though we need that true #1D. We have Kronner, Big Rig, Smitty, Quincey, Kuba, DeKeyser, and Carlo which is a solid 7 group. Not to mention we have numerous prospects moving into the A and trying to compete for jobs. Not saying they're pushing for them this upcoming season, but we need to look 2-3 years down the road. We already have to move some pieces on the back end, which is going to include some faces we certainly don't want to move but are going to be forced I believe.

Scoring depth is going to be where we have to look. Unfortunately, we also don't have the space nor do I believe in a roster overhaul at this point. Brunner, I believe, will develop into a good threat, but I think we need that proven goal scorer to alleviate pressure on Brunner. He shouldn't be looked upon to be our main goal scorer, at least not yet. 2/3 line is most likely going to be his beauty spot. We need a true top line scorer who can pot em when needed. Of course, that isn't the easiest to get.

A full off-season with a full prospect camp, training camp, and preseason is going to provide a lot of competition for the roster. It's going to be exciting as hell to watch, and certainly should be fun for Babcock and the coaching staff.

I suppose this should be on another thread, but does anyone think we'll get rid of Tom Renney? I think Bill Peters has cemented himself within the staff nicely, but i'm not so sure we're sold on Renney. I'm not sure if Babcock wants to go around looking for another assistant coach after he just went through changes the past 2 seasons. Anyways, just wanted to bring that up and get some feedback on all of it.

We need to shed a dman - unless we give up on Lashoff. I think we should amnesty Cola personally. I think Bert can be of use for one more year as a big body in a 2/3 line role. Sammy is a no brainer to me for amnesty -probably won't happen - but if it doesn't and helm gets healthy we may not even have a regular roster spot for nyquist let alone tatar.

Is there a kickstarter campaign for Jakub Kindl to never play another NHL game?

Hopefully Sammy isn't our top 6 acquisition. We really need one bonafide top 6 scorer. Other than that, I think this team could be really good. Our defense was plenty good enough in the playoffs that while it could be better, it's not priority one.

New e-book: The Spanish-American War: A Brief History. Relatively short, introductory read for casual history buffs and people who want to learn more about a forgotten war that changed America. Available at BN.com, Smashwords, Kobo, and Diesel E-Books right now. Same link as above.

We need to shed a dman - unless we give up on Lashoff. I think we should amnesty Cola personally. I think Bert can be of use for one more year as a big body in a 2/3 line role. Sammy is a no brainer to me for amnesty -probably won't happen - but if it doesn't and helm gets healthy we may not even have a regular roster spot for nyquist let alone tatar.

Anyone who puts a lot of weight into this season good or bad, is making a mistake. No preseason/training camp, short compressed schedule, was a health nightmare, etc.... We were a borderline PO team and still are. if that is good enough for Holland, then he needs to retire. That isn't good enough for me or most fans. We understand that you are not going to win the SC every year. No one does. But it is managements job to try to make their teams better every year. if they don't think they need to-as Hollands very vague comments hint at, then time to move on.

Don't get me wrong. I am a fan of his-in total. He has done a great job. But he needs to be more aggressive. I fully understand that every move made doesn't work out. same with every draft pick, every prospect, every old vet looking for that one last run. But standing pat, getting another year older, and expecting better is not a plan for success.

That doesn't mean we need 15 new players. But 4 or 5 are very much needed. Cleary-UFA, Sammy-old and broken, Bert-old and broken, must be replaced. For anyone to say, hint, or think otherwise is dumb. Those 3 used to be top 6 forwards, but they no longer are. There are no top 6 forwards in our system ready to play. we have to go out and either sign or trade for some.

One of the writers from Detroit was on the Huge show yesterday and was saying much of the same things. Fippula will price himself out of Detroits range, but they want to bring Miller and Cleary back. He also didn't expect any buyouts to be used.